


I Know It's True

by orphan_account



Series: Love At One Night Stand [3]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Culinary teacher Bitty, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Teacher Jack, service dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 10:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11667699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “I just…I want things with you. A future, a home together, a family maybe. If we um…if we get there…”“When we get there. Because Bits, we’ll get there,” Jack said, soft but so confident, Eric felt it all the way down to his toes.“When we get there,” Eric amended, and was unable to keep the smile off his face as he said it.





	I Know It's True

**Author's Note:**

> From the tumblr prompt by Iconicklaine: Prompt for a one-shot sequel to your one-night-stand fic: A few months into their relationship, Bitty's folks (or Jack's) come for a visit. During the visit, they ask a seemingly innocent question: "How did you two get together?" Bitty and Jack stumble over making up a respectable story about how they got together, and fail spectacularly. Or, they manage to squeak out an awkward alternative story, which is then blown apart by Shitty's exuberant re-telling of the true story.
> 
> I didn't follow it exactly, but I took the idea and ran with it x
> 
> Disclaimer: Check, Please is the glorious work of Ngozi. Bless her for letting us play in her world.

I know it's true  
It's written in a sky as blue  
As blue as your eyes  
As blue as your eyes  
-Sting

*** 

Just inside the haus kitchen, Eric gently laid his hand over Jack’s on Lola’s harness. “Go on, baby. Go get something for that migraine and I’ll let her out. Wednesdays are the peanut butter biscuits, right?”

Jack relinquished the pup with a relieved sigh, but before wandering off grabbed Eric by the edge of his collar and kissed him, sweet and thorough. “Thanks, Bits,” he murmured, warm, right against Eric’s mouth.

Eric flushed deeply, grinning against the pull of Jack’s lips. “You’re welcome, sweetpea. Why don’t you go have a lie down, and I’ll fix us something to have in bed, okay?”

Jack murmured his assent, then turned and left the kitchen as Eric sank to his knees and began to undo the straps on Lola’s harness. When she was free, he ruffled the fur round her neck, then kissed the top of her head. “You’re the best pup in the whole world. But you knew that, didn’t you.”

Lola gave a small whuff, though Eric wasn’t entirely sure she understood since Jack only spoke to her in French, but she seemed to like him all the same. She trotted off through the dog door, and Eric rummaged round, and found a pot of soup they’d made a few days before. He set it to heat, then grabbed a few of the biscuits for Lola, who returned a few minutes later. He handed them off, and she curled up on her dog bed near the end of the sofa, and looked settled in for the evening.

Taking his time, Eric set out a tray with two bowls and it wasn’t long before the soup was heated, a little waft of steam rising from the top. It was chilly, summer quickly rushing into autumn, and as time was careening by, the anniversary of Jack and Eric was coming up. It was making Eric feel—something on the inside. Warm, but a little nervous, and almost anxious like maybe they were heading somewhere, but he wasn’t sure where yet.

A lot had happened, and a lot hadn’t happened.

They spent as much time together as possible, and Jack had even hinted round at the idea that they might want to get a place together soon. Eric hadn’t imagined Jack would want to leave the haus, but it wasn’t a subject Jack ever shied away from. “As long as I’m within walking distance to campus, it doesn’t really matter where I live,” he’d said.

But the subject had been dropped.

There was a lot they hadn’t done yet, either, though. Like go on a trip somewhere, or send out a holiday card. Or celebrate a birthday together. That one was coming up. Jack’s, and Eric was still struggling with what to buy his boyfriend.

“I don’t usually make plans,” Jack had told him earlier that day. “Actually euh…my parents are coming and…and I’d like for them to meet you.”

Eric had smiled, and said something along the lines of, “Oh sweetheart, that would be wonderful,” only as the day wore on he wasn’t entirely sure that was true. Because Jack was so…and he was just…and Bob and Alicia were…

It was just…a lot.

Being able to stand there and make the soup and gather himself alone was exactly what he needed. And of course he wanted to meet Jack’s parents. He wanted all of it—a proper relationship with all the steps and all the getting serious and moving forward. But there were things he hadn’t exactly talked about with Jack yet.

Like how Jack knew Eric’s relationship with his parents was strained, but didn’t know Eric wasn’t out to them. Or better, that it was an open secret no one dared talk about because so long as Eric didn’t parade round some boy at family picnics, they could all sweep it under the rug with plausible deniability. And Jack didn’t know all the sordid details of Eric’s past. The bullying, the way his parents had fought the ADHD diagnosis every step of the way because as his momma always said, “There’s nothing wrong with my boy, he’s just different, he doesn’t need all those meds addlin’ his brain,” so he’d never even been properly treated until University.

He didn’t know how to tell Jack that he wanted all those things with him—to move in, to meet his parents, to celebrate joint holidays—but he could never reciprocate because coming out and being open with them would only slam what little crack in the door was still open between them.

It was just…a lot.

Eric had mostly gathered himself by the time he made it upstairs, the soup, two glasses of juice, some fresh bread. Jack was in the room, the lights very dim, sat up against the headboard with his glasses off and his eyes shut. He smiled when he heard the door click shut softly, and shifted over a fraction.

“That smells good.”

“It’s that soup we made a few days ago,” Eric said. He slid the tray onto the mattress until it touched Jack’s calf so his boyfriend would know where it was. “How’s your head?”

“Better. Down to a dull throb,” Jack said. There was a slight slowness to his words that said the painkillers were working, and that eased some of the tension in Eric’s shoulders.

“Here, baby. I got you a bowl. Not too hot.” Eric picked up Jack’s and placed it into his waiting hands, then got his own and they sat side-by-side in the dim and quiet, content and happy with each other. Even if there was a storm of uncertainty still brewing in the back of Eric’s mind.

“Do you want to talk about whatever’s bothering you?” Jack asked, when his soup was half done.

Eric startled. “What makes you think…”

“Don’t even bother,” Jack said with a tiny smile. He leant forward, his fingers finding the tray, slipping the bowl down, and he sat back with a sigh. “I know you.”

Eric rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Well…” He hesitated again, then began to tidy up their dinner dishes, setting everything on the desk before settling back down next to his boyfriend. He bit his lip, then let out a puff of air with the word, “Well,” again. “Your parents…”

Jack winced. “It’s too soon, isn’t it?”

Eric shook his head quickly, grabbing for Jack’s hand. “Honey, no. It’s…I do want to meet your parents. Of course I do. But I…” He dragged his other hand down his face, and when Jack tugged him over, Eric went easily, letting his head drop against Jack’s pectoral. “I don’t have the same kind of relationship with my parents. They don’t…we don’t talk, you know? They…”

“Don’t know about me?” Jack offered. When Eric startled, Jack chuckled quietly, nosing into Eric’s hair. “I kind of figured, Bits. From the way you very, very carefully never mention me when your mom calls. Or the way I was always just, ‘your friend’ Jack.”

“I’m sorry,” Eric whispered, hiding his face in the front of Jack’s shirt. “Baby, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to…”

“I understand,” Jack murmured. He ran a soothing hand down the length of Eric’s spine. “I know it’s not the same as it is with my parents, and I don’t expect it to be. I don’t care what you do or don’t tell them, so long as you’re safe and happy.”

“Well, can I be the former if I’m not the latter?” Eric muttered quietly, clinging tight to Jack’s warm body. “It’s never going to make me happy that I can’t bring you home and show you off because gosh, honey, you are more than something to be boasting about.”

Jack chuckled again, his hand going up, tilting Eric’s chin so Eric could look him in the face. “Happiness is something I prefer, not something I require. I know families can be complicated.”

“I just…I want things with you. A future, a home together, a family maybe. If we um…if we get there…”

“ _When_ we get there. Because Bits, we’ll get there,” Jack said, soft but so confident, Eric felt it all the way down to his toes.

“When we get there,” Eric amended, and was unable to keep the smile off his face as he said it. “When we get there, I’ll have to tell them. But for now…”

“For now,” Jack echoed, then leant down and brushed their lips together, “this is fine. But I’d still like you to meet mine.”

“I’d like that, sweetheart,” Eric said, and nuzzled into the side of Jack’s neck. “More’n anything.”

*** 

And so Jack’s birthday came, and so did his parents. Eric tried his best not to be overwhelmed, which was difficult because like Jack, they were confident, and bright, and so focussed on Eric it was a bit much at first. They came with giant hugs and a million questions about Eric’s life, and what he did, and who he was.

Jack eventually stepped in, his eyes narrowed behind his thick lenses in a glare aimed mostly at Bob who was curled up on the sofa with Lola in his lap. “Don’t scare him off, papa,” he warned.

Eric snorted, squeezing Jack’s knee. “He’s doing nothing of the sort, sweetheart.”

“See, Jack,” Bob said with a grin. “I’m doing nothing of the sort.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Just know if he makes me choose between you and him…”

“Oh baby, we know,” Alicia said, a smile of her own.

“So,” Bob said after Lola climbed down and headed for the kitchen, “tell us all about how you two met. Jack’s been rather quiet about the whole thing.”

Eric flushed bright red, and glanced up at Jack whose jaw had gone tense. “Oh. Um. Well…” He cleared his throat and felt Jack gently squeeze his fingers. “It was…it was at a party. Shitty invited me and we…talked all night.”

“Talked,” Bob repeated.

Jack said something in sharp French which only made Bob laugh, and Jack sighed. “I told you this already.”

“Yes, yes…Shitty introduced you, and the next morning…”

“Brah, are you telling the ‘rents about Bits’ walk of shame?” came Shitty’s loud voice from the doorway. Both Jack and Eric froze in abject horror as Shitty strolled in with a wide smile. “This little dude comes strolling downstairs all ruffled and well… _loved_ , and they kiss goodbye, then Bits here admits that although he spent the whole night with Jack he didn’t even know the fucker was blind.”

Eric wanted to melt into the sofa, and was close to it as his body temperature had reached near lava-hot, and he found himself burrowing into Jack’s side, even if Bob and Alicia’s faces grew bright with smiles. “In my defence, it’s not like Jack advertises it.”

Jack snorted. “It’s not like I don’t. It was actually kind of adorable,” Jack said, and nosed into Eric’s hair for a second. “The next morning he asked why I was allowed to take Lola to work.”

Eric gave a resigned sigh to being mocked for the rest of his life. “That’s when I realised it. I thought he wouldn’t want to date me after he realised what a dang moron I was.”

“You’re not,” Jack murmured, and eased his arm tighter round Eric’s waist. “I never thought that.”

“Because you’re too nice,” Eric shot back, and Jack turned his face down toward him, and for a moment it was like no one else in the room existed.

Until Bob cleared his throat. Eric’s gaze snapped back to Bob and Alicia who looked soft round the edges and a little watery-eyed, and fond, and Eric thought maybe he hadn’t completely ruined it.

“Anyway,” Jack said after the silence, “thank you for that, Shitty. I knew we could always count on you to make it fucking awkward.”

“That’s what I’m here for, brah. You two love-birds have a good night.” Then he was out the door.

Bob clapped his hands together, then pushed himself up. “I think that calls for dinner. On me.”

“It had better be, after all this,” Jack grumbled.

Desperate to get a second away, Eric said, “Why don’t I grab Lola and meet you at the door.” Then without waiting for an answer, he rushed into the kitchen and propped open the back door. “Ici!” he called after her. His accent was terrible, but she understood him and appeared immediately.

Eric knelt down and she nuzzled him, like she could sense it had all been a bit of a shit-show. He breathed, then stroked her a few moments, then straightened. She followed obediently, going right to Jack’s side, and Eric caught the tail end of a conversation which he couldn’t understand, and resolved to sign himself up for a community French class the moment he could work it into his schedule.

As they started out the door, Alicia hung back and gave Eric a pointed look, who also slowed his steps. “I promise I’m not always completely unobservant,” Eric said in a rush. “That night was…I liked him a lot, and we just…connected.”

“Eric, it’s okay,” she said with a smile, looping her arm through his. “Jack’s right, it’s cute. It’s…very you. From everything he’s told us about you—which is a lot, you know? Before this, I couldn’t get my son to spend more than ten minutes on the phone with me, but now he just talks. About anything, about nothing, and I can hear the happiness in his voice. That’s what means everything.”

“Oh I…lord,” Eric breathed, dragging a hand down his face. He squared his shoulders after a second, then nodded. “I love him a whole lot, Mrs Zimmermann. More than I thought I could love another person.”

“I can tell,” she said, nudging him as they got closer to the car. “And I can tell he loves you the same. You’re both very lucky.”

Eric’s eyes drifted over to where Bob was elbowing Jack, and Jack was hitting him back, laughing. He felt a swell in his heart like he knew—this was everything. This was forever. He turned his smile back on Alicia, then said, “Yeah. Yeah, we sure are.”


End file.
